March 17, 2008: Lee, MHS showdown part of busy week for baseball teams

Lee PassmoreMidland Reporter-Telegram

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, March 16, 2008

When the Midland High and Lee baseball teams get together for the first time in District 3-5A play, there's usually the anticipation that locals are going to get a look at some of the state's most highly competitive baseball and an early look at two playoff teams and an eventual district champion.

That could still be the case for a 7 p.m. game today at Citibank Ballpark, but this season a sense of hype is taking a backseat to reality.

While the Bulldogs and Rebels have been Region I-5A's last two representatives at the state tournament in Round Rock, both teams have questions which need to be answered soon in district play. And since they'll both be playing the first of three games in four days, a sense of urgency has taken hold.

With spring break starting today, it was originally decided that the district would play three games this week and the usual Saturday afternoon game next week would be skipped. MHS coach Barry Russell objected to that since the Bulldogs don't have an open date during the first five games of district play and he wanted to change the schedule.

"We wanted to spread them out a bit instead of cramming five games in 10 days," Russell said. "It certainly taxes your pitching."

Russell said the majority of district coaches agreed with him in trying to get the schedule cut from three to two games this week, preferably to be played on Tuesday and Thursday. But the vote wasn't taken to the district's executive committee last summer because it was embroiled in the issue of Jamison Berryhill's transfer from Midland Christian to Odessa Permian to play football.

The proposal to change the schedule was eventually lost in the shuffle, so the original schedule stayed intact. While Russell might not like the setup, most of the other teams in the district have to live with it for the next four days, including the Rebels.

That, in some ways, makes tonight's game just another district game, although it really isn't.

"It's a big week and I don't want to say that it diminishes the importance of the game because just one game out of three," first-year Lee coach Danny Neighbors said. "You still want to have bragging rights in your town. It's like trying to beat your brother."

If that's the case, Midland's baseball "family" has had better weeks to start district than last week.

Defending district champion Lee (8-8-1) is still looking for its first district victory after losing its district opener to Odessa High 11-1 in a five-inning run-rule loss at home. Midland High (6-11-1 overall, 1-1 in district) opened with an 8-6 loss at Permian, but evened its record with a 7-5 win over San Angelo Central on Saturday.

So instead of looking to establish district dominance, the Midland teams are simply looking to get some momentum going, which might instill a sense of urgency in the game.

"It's always a rivalry," Russell said. "Our guys have played with their guys forever. The problem is there's such a short turnaround for everybody."

At least the Bulldogs head into today with a district victory under their belts. The Rebels had the open date over the weekend to ponder their loss to Odessa High. That might give Lee some incentive heading into today.

"When you don't have a win it's important to get one," Neighbors said. "It's a district game so it's important to both teams. Both of us are looking to play good solid baseball."

Despite committing five errors against Central, Midland High managed to put one in the win column. That's what's most important to Russell entering today's game.

"I thought this was a must-win for us," Russell said shortly after the Bulldogs beat Central. "(An 0-2 record) would be really tough going into a three-game week so at least we felt good about ourselves."